3. Mechanical micro-cutting is emerging as a viable alternative to lithography based micromachin- ing techniques. A new laser assisted mechanical micromachining (LAMM) process has been proposed in which a laser is

used to soften the material before cutting. A study examined the accuracy of the groove cut using this approach. The LAMM process was used to cut grooves to a nominal depth of 20 µm in 10 specimens of H13 steel. The actual depth of the groove cut using the LAMM process was measured using white light interferometry. From the 10 specimens, the sample mean of the measured depth of the grooves was 19 µm. The population standard deviation can be assumed to be 2 μm.